Although I didn't actually produce him, I did get to help a young Michael Jackson in the 1980s, before he became a superstar. At the time, CBS was against his making a new album he wanted to call Off The Wall. They didn't believe he could make it as a solo act and insisted he keep the Jackson Five intact.
It wasn't only the label that was against the idea. His family didn't go for it either, all of which hurt him on a very deep and personal level. When he needed someone to talk to about all of it, he decided I was the one.
I'd first met the Jacksons in 1975, in Los Angeles at the Century Plaza Hotel, where they were rehearsing for an industry convention. Jermaine and I were immediately drawn to each other. I didn't learn until later that he was a huge Barry White fan. We hooked up, started hanging out together, and eventually Jacksons bought homes in the San Fernando Valley near each other and me. We camped out together on overnight fishing trips and became quite close, Later that same year Jermaine's wife, Hazel and Glodean were pregnant at the same time, and went through that whole experience together.
Michael felt I was one of the few people he could trust because he knew that no matter what, I would be honest with him. He loved the fact I was afraid of nothing and nobody, that I was my own man, something he aspired to be.
When he ran into Trouble at the label, I was the one he called. I told him to come over, and that night we talked for five and a half hours about the situation. He cried throughout, because, he said, they'd hurt his feelings so badly. All he wanted was a fair shot at a solo career. I decided to try to help him get it.
First, though, I gave him a long lecture on the responsability he had to make sure he felt to his own music. I told him he had to work to get the album he wanted to make, no matter what, because he'd never know if he could be a hit as a solo unless he went ahead and gave it his best shot. I finally convinved him not to listen to anyone or anything but his own calling. He said he wanted Quincy Jones to produce the album and I told him to go ahead and get him.
Michael started coming everyday wanting to learn the secret of how I'd gotten to control my own music and publishing, the production of my own records, and therefore, my own destiny. I explained to him the difference between us, how he believed he was a pure ''artist'' while I was always aware and wary of the real world. I tried to educate him, so that he could understand how the music world operated, to be a little more of a businessman and a bit less the temperamental artist.
The next thing I knew, he managed to make Off the Wall, produced by the great Quincy Jones. I listened to it and heard pieces of so many of my arrangements, which I took only as a compliment. Not only that, but Michael went on to become one of the savviest players in the music business, owning a good piece of the Beatles' catalog and a lot of other publishing as well, and taking complete control over the making of his albums. It's a good feeling to know that you've reached somebody and helped show him the way.
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..was er Michael so alles beigebracht haben will.. 
und vor lauter Philly-Sound haben wir nicht mal gemerkt, dass die Diskothek brannte. Ehrlich.Wir sind mal eben so heil rausgekommen.Aufgewacht sind wir erst, als die Feuerwehr kam.
